The grand opening of the second Walmart in Raynham, originally scheduled for this morning, has been delayed.

The company admits being behind schedule and has yet to wire the town $300,000 to secure a temporary occupancy permit.

“We are going to have to postpone the opening,” said Bill Wertz, a Walmart spokesman.

The Raynham building inspector also revealed Tuesday that Walmart was violating the law by having non-construction workers in the facility, stocking the shelves and doing other work without an occupancy permit through last Thursday, when a cease and desist order was issued.

A Walmart spokesman said Monday that the store would meet its target opening at 7:30 a.m. today. Eventually, on Tuesday, the company released a statement confirming the opening would be postponed.

Lingering issues remain at the Route 138 store. A sewer pump station at the site isn’t ready for business, according to town officials.

The store is the town’s second Walmart.

In order to open the new store, Walmart needs a permanent occupancy permit, which has not yet been granted.

The Raynham Planning Board voted last week to issue the store a temporary occupancy permit on the condition that Walmart provide a $300,000 surety to guarantee completion of work, including work at the sewer pump station and other minor issues.

But the temporary occupancy permit was never granted. Walmart still hadn’t wired Raynham the $300,000 as of Tuesday night, town officials said.

“The Planning Board voted to grant it, but they still need sign-offs from other departments,” Raynham Town Planner John Charbonneau said Tuesday. “Then, they need an inspection by the Building Department. I just endorsed their temporary occupancy permit today.”

The Planning Department would need to grant the permit, after getting approval from the Raynham sewer, water and fire departments first.

Without providing detailed information about the roadblocks keeping the store from opening, a company spokeswoman sent out a statement saying that they would announce the new opening date soon.

“We’re excited about the new store,” store manager Ashley Viveiros said in the statement. “We just have a few last-minute items we need to finalize before we open our doors. The store is currently being stocked, our pharmacy department is ready, and we’re looking forward to meeting our customers and being a part of the community.”

Most of the store appeared fully stocked on a tour Thursday, as hourly employees set up displays and continued to put items on shelves.

But later that day, all the hourly workers were sent home, and they have not been allowed to work in the building since, said one worker who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Page 2 of 2 - The worker said only managers were allowed in the building, while he and other newly hired workers were given the option of working scheduled days at the original Walmart in Raynham on the other side of town, or at another company store in Swansea.

Raynham Building Inspector Dennis Machado said he caught wind that Walmart had its workers in the building stocking shelves and filed a cease and desist order for the store to remove them until an occupancy order was granted.

“We had people who went by there, questioning why there was some many cars in the parking lot,” said Machado, adding that town workers also went in and saw what was going on. “That was unlawful. It was illegal for them to be in that building. We didn’t punish them, but if they had not left the building with all their employees, at that point in time, we could have fined them.”

Walmart said on Tuesday night that it responded immediately to the town’s orders.

“We were following the staffing protocols outlined by the city in order to get our shelves stocked prior to our grand opening,” Wertz said. “Once we were advised that only management associates could be in the store, we complied immediately. We are working closely with the city to address any remaining last-minute issues and hope to be able to announce a new grand opening date soon.”

The Walmart is expected to bring an influx of motorists onto Route 138, causing concern for some nearby residents. But the store has implemented mitigation measures, including two new sets of traffic lights.

Chris Gallagher, the Raynham Sewer Commissioner, said that Walmart “finally” got the sewer pump station at the site working on Tuesday afternoon. The pump station works, but there are still problems with drainage.

Gallagher said Walmart had to deal with “a lot of unanticipated problems” at the site in recent months, including contamination in the ground “that cost them a fortune,” and ground water problems.

“The problem they had was they just weren’t ready,” Gallagher said. “The weather didn’t cooperate either. That all slowed them down. When it came down to it, they realized wouldn’t get all signatures from inspectors. The planning board had a bunch of issues. ... They were just a day late and a dollar short.”